scholarly journals A solar filament disconnected by magnetic reconnection

2020 ◽  
Vol 633 ◽  
pp. A121
Author(s):  
Zhike Xue ◽  
Xiaoli Yan ◽  
Liheng Yang ◽  
Jincheng Wang ◽  
Qiaoling Li ◽  
...  

Aims. We aim to study a high-resolution observation of an asymmetric inflow magnetic reconnection between a filament and its surrounding magnetic loops in active region NOAA 12436 on 2015 October 23. Methods. We analyzed the multiband observations of the magnetic reconnection obtained by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST) and the Solar Dynamic Observatory. We calculated the NVST Hα Dopplergrams to determine the Doppler properties of the magnetic reconnection region and the rotation of a jet. Results. The filament firstly becomes active and then approaches its southwestern surrounding magnetic loops (L1) with a velocity of 9.0 km s−1. During this period, the threads of the filament become loose in the reconnection region and then reconnect with L1 in turn. L1 is pressed backward by the filament with a velocity of 5.5 km s−1, and then the magnetic reconnection occurs between them. A set of newly formed loops are separated from the reconnection site with a mean velocity of 127.3 km s−1. In the middle stage, some threads of the filament return back first with a velocity of 20.1 km s−1, and others return with a velocity of 4.1 km s−1 after about 07:46 UT. Then, L1 also begins to return with a velocity of 3.5 km s−1 at about 07:47 UT. At the same time, magnetic reconnection continues to occur between them until 07:51 UT. During the reconnection, a linear typical current sheet forms with a length of 5.5 Mm and a width of 1.0 Mm, and a lot of hot plasma blobs are observed propagating from the typical current sheet. During the reconnection, the plasma in the reconnection region and the typical current sheet always shows redshifted feature. Furthermore, the material and twist of the filament are injected into the newly longer-formed magnetic loops by the magnetic reconnection, which leads to the formation of a jet, and its rotation. Conclusions. The observational evidence for the asymmetric inflow magnetic reconnection is investigated. We conclude that the magnetic reconnection does occur in this event and results in the disconnection of the filament. The looseness of the filament may be due to the pressure imbalance between the inside and outside of the filament. The redshifted feature in the reconnection site can be explained by the expansion of the right flank of the filament to the lower atmosphere because of the complex magnetic configuration in this active region.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Ni

<p>UV bursts and Ellerman bombs are transient brightenings observed in the low solar atmospheres of emerging flux regions. Observations have discovered the cospatial and cotemporal EBs and UV bursts, and their formation mechanisms are still not clear. The multi-thermal components with a large temperature span in these events challenge our understanding of magnetic reconnection and heating mechanisms in the low solar atmosphere. We have studied magnetic reconnection between the emerging and background magnetic fields. The initial plasma parameters are based on the C7 atmosphere model. After the current sheet with dense photosphere plasma is emerged to <span tabindex="0" role="presentation" data-mathml='<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mn>0.5</mn></math>'><span><span><span>0.5</span></span></span></span> Mm above the solar surface, plasmoid instability appears. The plasmoids collide and coalesce with each other, which makes the plasmas with different densities and temperatures mixed up in the turbulent reconnection region. Therefore, the hot plasmas corresponding to the UV emissions and colder plasmas corresponding to the emissions from other wavelenghts can move together and occur at about the same height. In the meantime, the hot turbulent structures basically concentrate above <span tabindex="0" role="presentation" data-mathml='<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mn>0.4</mn></math>'><span><span><span>0.4</span></span></span></span> Mm, whereas the cool plasmas extend to much lower heights to the bottom of the current sheet. These phenomena are consistent with the observations of Chen et al. 2019, ApJL. The synthesized Si IV line profiles are similar to the observed one in UV bursts, the enhanced wing of the line profiles can extend to about <span tabindex="0" role="presentation" data-mathml='<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mn>100</mn></math>'><span><span><span>100</span></span></span></span> km s<span tabindex="0" role="presentation" data-mathml='<math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><msup><mi></mi><mrow class="MJX-TeXAtom-ORD"><mo>−</mo><mn>1</mn></mrow></msup></math>'><span><span><span><span></span><span><span><span>−</span><span>1</span></span></span></span></span></span></span>. The differences are significant among the numerical results with different resolutions, which indicate that the realistic magnetic diffusivity is crucial to reveal the fine structures and realistic plasmas heating in these reconnection events. Our results also show that the reconnection heating contributed by ambipolar diffusion in the low chromosphere around the temperature minimum region is not efficient.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 623 ◽  
pp. A15 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Potter ◽  
P. K. Browning ◽  
M. Gordovskyy

Context. Forced magnetic reconnection, a reconnection event triggered by external perturbation, should be ubiquitous in the solar corona. Energy released during such cases can be much greater than that which was introduced by the perturbation. The exact dynamics of magnetic reconnection events are determined by the structure and complexity of the reconnection region: the thickness of reconnecting layers, the field curvature; the presence, shapes and sizes of magnetic islands. It is unclear how the properties of the external perturbation and the initial current sheet affect the reconnection region properties, and thereby the reconnection dynamics and energy release profile. Aims. We investigate the effect of the form of the external perturbation and initial current sheet on the evolution of the reconnection region and the energy release process. Chiefly we explore the non-linear interactions between multiple, simultaneous perturbations, which represent more realistic scenarios. Future work will use these results in test particle simulations to investigate particle acceleration over multiple reconnection events. Methods. Simulations are performed using Lare2d, a 2.5D Lagrangian-remap solver for the visco-resistive MHD equations. The model of forced reconnection is extended to include superpositions of sinusoidal driving disturbances, including localised Gaussian perturbations. A transient perturbation is applied to the boundaries of a region containing a force-free current sheet. The simulation domain is sufficiently wide to allow multiple magnetic islands to form and coalesce. Results. Island coalescence contributes significantly to energy release and involves rapid reconnection. Long wavelength modes in perturbations dominate the evolution, without the presence of which reconnection is either slow, as in the case of short wavelength modes, or the initial current sheet remains stable, as in the case of noise perturbations. Multiple perturbations combine in a highly non-linear manner: reconnection is typically faster than when either disturbance is applied individually, with multiple low-energy events contributing to the same total energy release.


2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 871-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. S. Lukin ◽  
M. G. Linton

Abstract. A computational study of three-dimensional magnetic reconnection between two flux ropes through a moving reconnection site is presented. The configuration is considered in the context of two interacting spheromaks constrained by a perfectly conducting cylindrical boundary and oriented to form a single magnetic field null at its center. The initial magnetic field configuration is embedded into a uniform thermal plasma and is unstable to tilting. As the spheromaks tilt, their magnetic fields begin to reconnect at the null, subsequently displacing both the null and the reconnection site. The motion of the reconnection region and the magnetic null are shown to be correlated, with stronger correlation and faster reconnection observed in plasmas with lower thermal to magnetic pressure ratio. It is also shown that ion inertial effects allow for yet faster reconnection, but do not qualitatively change the dynamics of the process. Implications of the coupling between moving magnetic nulls and reconnection sites, as well as of possible mechanisms for fast reconnection through a moving reconnection region, are discussed. The simulations are conducted using both single-fluid and Hall MHD plasma models within the HiFi multi-fluid modeling framework.


2018 ◽  
Vol 609 ◽  
pp. A100
Author(s):  
B. Snow ◽  
G. J. J. Botha ◽  
J. A. McLaughlin ◽  
A. Hillier

Aims. We aim to investigate the onset of 2D time-dependent magnetic reconnection that is triggered using an external (non-local) velocity driver located away from, and perpendicular to, an equilibrium Harris current sheet. Previous studies have typically utilised an internal trigger to initiate reconnection, for example initial conditions centred on the current sheet. Here, an external driver allows for a more naturalistic trigger as well as the study of the earlier stages of the reconnection start-up process. Methods. Numerical simulations solving the compressible, resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations were performed to investigate the reconnection onset within different atmospheric layers of the Sun, namely the corona, chromosphere and photosphere. Results. A reconnecting state is reached for all atmospheric heights considered, with the dominant physics being highly dependent on atmospheric conditions. The coronal case achieves a sharp rise in electric field (indicative of reconnection) for a range of velocity drivers. For the chromosphere, we find a larger velocity amplitude is required to trigger reconnection (compared to the corona). For the photospheric environment, the electric field is highly dependent on the inflow speed; a sharp increase in electric field is obtained only as the velocity entering the reconnection region approaches the Alfvén speed. Additionally, the role of ambipolar diffusion is investigated for the chromospheric case and we find that the ambipolar diffusion alters the structure of the current density in the inflow region. Conclusions. The rate at which flux enters the reconnection region is controlled by the inflow velocity. This determines all aspects of the reconnection start-up process, that is, the early onset of reconnection is dominated by the advection term in Ohm’s law in all atmospheric layers. A lower plasma-β enhances reconnection and creates a large change in the electric field. A high plasma-β hinders the reconnection, yielding a sharp rise in the electric field only when the velocity flowing into the reconnection region approaches the local Alfvén speed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (S300) ◽  
pp. 424-425
Author(s):  
Bhuwan Joshi ◽  
Upendra Kushwaha ◽  
KyungSuk Cho ◽  
Astrid Veronig

AbstractIn this paper, we present RHESSI and TRACE observations of multiple flare activity that occurred in the active region NOAA 10656 on 2004 August 18. Out of four successive flares, there were three events of class-C while the final event was a major X1.8 solar eruptive flare. During localized C-class flares, the filament undergoes slow yet crucial morphological evolution. The filament eruption is accompanied with an X1.8 flare during which multiple HXR bursts are observed up to 100–300 keV energies. From the location, timing, strength, and spectrum of HXR emission, we conclude that the prominence eruption is driven by the distinct events of magnetic reconnection occurring in the current sheet below the erupting prominence. These multi-wavelength observations also provide evidence for tether-cutting reconnection as the triggering mechanism for filament eruption and associated X-class flare.


2008 ◽  
Vol 113 (A1) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Asano ◽  
R. Nakamura ◽  
I. Shinohara ◽  
M. Fujimoto ◽  
T. Takada ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 866 (1) ◽  
pp. 64 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Cheng ◽  
Y. Li ◽  
L. F. Wan ◽  
M. D. Ding ◽  
P. F. Chen ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 619 ◽  
pp. A82
Author(s):  
Man Zhang ◽  
Yu Fen Zhou ◽  
Xue Shang Feng ◽  
Bo Li ◽  
Ming Xiong

In this paper, we have used a three-dimensional numerical magnetohydrodynamics model to study the reconnection process between magnetic cloud and heliospheric current sheet. Within a steady-state heliospheric model that gives a reasonable large-scale structure of the solar wind near solar minimum, we injected a spherical plasmoid to mimic a magnetic cloud. When the magnetic cloud moves to the heliospheric current sheet, the dynamic process causes the current sheet to become gradually thinner and the magnetic reconnection begin. The numerical simulation can reproduce the basic characteristics of the magnetic reconnection, such as the correlated/anticorrelated signatures in V and B passing a reconnection exhaust. Depending on the initial magnetic helicity of the cloud, magnetic reconnection occurs at points along the boundary of the two systems where antiparallel field lines are forced together. We find the magnetic filed and velocity in the MC have a effect on the reconnection rate, and the magnitude of velocity can also effect the beginning time of reconnection. These results are helpful in understanding and identifying the dynamic process occurring between the magnetic cloud and the heliospheric current sheet.


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